Website Privacy Policy

At Dana-Farber/Brigham Cancer Center, we are committed to protecting the privacy and security of visitors to our websites, including https://www.youhaveus.org/, https://www.dfbwcc.org/ and any other websites that link to this Privacy Policy (collectively, the "Sites"). The Sites are jointly-operated by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (with its affiliates) and Mass General Brigham (with its affiliates), referred to collectively here as "Dana-Farber/Brigham Cancer Center" or "DF/BCC".

This Website Privacy Policy will tell you what information, including personal information, may we collect from you through the Sites, how it is used, how it is shared, and your choices about the collection and use of your information. By using our Sites and providing personal information to us, you agree to this be bound and abide by this Website Privacy Policy and any posted Terms of Use ("Terms").

We may occasionally make changes to our Website Privacy Policy. Whenever a change is made to our Website Privacy Policy, we will update the information on this page, so please review this Website Privacy Policy regularly.

This policy does not govern how we use your protected health information ("PHI"), as defined under the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act and related regulations. That information is governed by:

For Dana-Farber: Dana-Farber's Notice of Privacy Practices. If you have any questions about Dana-Farber's Notice of Privacy Practices, please contact Dana-Farber at privacy@dfci.harvard.edu.
For Mass General Brigham: the Mass General Brigham Notice of Privacy Practices. If you have any questions about Mass General Brigham's Notice of Privacy Practices, please contact Mass General Brigham at 1-800-856-1983 or partners.org/complianceline.

1. Types of Information We Collect

In order to better serve you with our Sites, we may collect the following categories of information through the Sites.

This may include (i) contact information you provide (such as name, mailing address, e-mail address, or phone number, and demographic information), (ii) transactional and payment information, such as if you make a donation, (iii) any subscription preferences if you receive communications from us, (iv) any surveys you respond to with feedback, and (v) Online User Activity as described below.

If you provide us with information regarding another individual, you represent that you have that person's consent to provide such information and to permit us to use it in accordance with this policy.

2. Online User Activity (Cookies, Tracking and Internet-based Advertising)

We, our service providers, and advertising partners may collect certain information about your device and use of our Sites by automated means, including but not limited to cookies, pixels and other similar technologies ("Online User Activity"). These technologies can be implemented by us or by third-party products or services we used (such as from Google or Facebook). "Cookies" are small data files that online services can store on, and retrieve from, a user's computer or mobile device through a web browser. The information is stored and retrievable either for the duration of a website visit (known as "session cookies"), or until some later point in time set by our websites setting the cookie (known as "persistent cookies"). Cookies are very commonly used by websites and most browsers are configured by default to accept cookies.

When you use the Sites, the information we may collect by automated means includes, for example:

Usage details about your interaction with our Sites (such as the date, time, and length of visits, and specific pages or content accessed during the visits, search terms, frequency of the visits, referring website addresses);
Device information including the IP address and other details of a device that you use to connect with our Sites (such as device type and unique device identifier, operating system, browser type, mobile network information, and the device's telephone number); and
General location information if your device shares information about its location.

Cookies and these other technologies can help us automatically identify you when you return to our Sites. Cookies help us review website traffic patterns and improve the website, and determine which portions of the Sites are popular. We can also use such information to deliver customized content and advertising to users of the Sites whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area. Our Sites uses these tools to help us track and analyze visitor activity on the Sites, measure the effectiveness of our advertising efforts, and support the optimization of our digital marketing campaigns.

We may deploy the Facebook Pixel on some informational webpages. The Facebook Pixel may enable Facebook to match website visitors with their Facebook User Accounts. You can find out more about how Facebook uses data when you visit our Sites by visiting Facebook's Data Policy page, "What kinds of information do we collect? > Information from partners."

We use web analytics and tag management services and tools provided by Google and other third parties to collect certain information relating to your use of our websites. You can find out more about how Google uses data when you visit our websites by visiting "How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps."

The Sites may use Google's reCAPTCHA service to protect against spam and other automated abuse by identifying activity from an automated program such as a "bot." reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of website visitors as soon as the website visit begins. The data collected during this analysis, which takes place in the background, is sent to Google's servers. The use of the reCAPTCHA service and the treatment of any information collected through the service, such as IP address, date, time, language, screen size and resolution, and mouse movements while on the page, are subject to Google's applicable privacy policy and terms of use, as noted in the boxes where you are asked to confirm that "I'm not a robot" when submitting a form.

You can turn off tracking cookies from our Sites in your browser by clicking here or with the settings button on the cookie banner which appears when visiting the Sites. Please note that some peripheral sites (i.e., subdomains) accessible through our website do not yet support cookie preferences, so cookies on those sites will not be affected by your settings. As an alternative, most browsers allow the visitor to reject cookies. In either instance, if you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features our Sites provide. Because there is not yet a consensus on how companies should respond to web browser-based do-not-track ("DNT") mechanisms, we do not respond to web browser-based DNT signals at this time.

3. How We Use This Information

We may use the information we obtain about you for purposes allowed by applicable laws, including:

Provide the Sites to you, including to provide the services offered through the Sites or otherwise by DF/BCC, manage any transactions (e.g., donations), and provide other important notices;
Respond to your requests, questions and comments;
Monitor the performance of our Sites including metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns;
Tailor the content we display through the Sites and in our communications, including any content or advertising that we believe may be of interest to you;
Operate, evaluate and improve our Sites, and diagnose or fix technology problems;
Provide important notices or changes to this Website Privacy Policy, or our Terms; and
Comply with and enforce as needed applicable legal requirements, industry standards, our policies and our contractual rights.

We may also use or share information in an anonymized or aggregate manner for many purposes such as research, analysis, modeling, marketing, and improvement of our Sites.

4. How We Share Information

We will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent, except in the following circumstances.

We may share your information with service providers that we believe need the information to perform a technology, business, or other professional function for us (examples include IT services, maintenance and hosting of our Sites, payment processors, marketing partners, and other service providers). We only provide such vendors with information so they can perform their required functions on our behalf.
If you voluntarily share or submit any content for public posting through our Sites (e.g., picture, story, commentary), or link it to any social media platforms, that post and any content or information associated with it may become available to the public.
We also may disclose information about you (i) if we are required to do so by law or legal process, (ii) when we believe disclosure is necessary to prevent harm or financial loss, (iii) in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activity; or (iv) under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our staff, users or the public.
We reserve the right to transfer the information we maintain in the event of an organizational change of control (e.g., merger or acquisition). If we engage in such a change of control, your personal information will be transferred subject to this Website Privacy

Where appropriate, we will limit sharing of your information in accordance with the choices you have provided us and applicable law.

5. Confidentiality and Security

An individual may use our Sites without providing personal information. However, when you submit a request or communication on our Sites, we may need certain information from you. For example, you may be asked to provide your name, email address, and/or demographic information if you choose to complete any online forms used for class registration, special events and promotions or appointment requests, or to provide feedback about the Sites.

We maintain information security programs designed to protect our users' personal information. For example, we maintain secure firewall and use all reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access to personal information collected through our Sites. We also endeavor to encrypt and secure the confidentiality of personal information transmitted to us.

6. Being Careful When Sending Information Via Email

Please do not provide personal information via email to us unless it is through a secure channel (these will be marked, as secure online forms, for example). Remember that email messages, unless encrypted while in transit, can be viewed by other internet users. If you have personal information to communicate, please use the appropriate secure online form or contact the necessary party using traditional means such as phone or mail.

If you receive an email that looks like it is from Dana-Farber or Brigham Cancer Center and asks for your personal information, do not respond. This may be a scam or "Phishing" email intended to steal your information. We will never request your password, user name, credit card information or other personal information through email.

7. Donor Information Collection and Use

When you make a gift to us through a physical (e.g., check) or electronic form of payment, your email address and mailing address will be entered into our donor database(s). If you opt in, we may send you emails or mailings in the future informing you of other giving opportunities or providing news about us.

We do not sell or rent donor information to others, but we do occasionally exchange donor mailing lists with other non-profit organizations for fundraising purposes. This process helps us engage new supporters, saves us money and is carefully monitored. One may always opt out by contacting us as directed below.

8. Your Privacy Choices

We offer you certain choices about what information we collect from you, how we use and disclose the information, and how we communicate with you.

If you choose not to receive any further communication from us, you may opt-out by contacting us as directed below. You can opt out of marketing emails by clicking on the opt out link at the bottom of the message or by contacting us.
As noted in the Online User Activity section, you can disable website cookies as provided above.
Occasionally we may request feedback on our websites to better understand how we can improve what information we present and how we present it. These surveys do not ask questions that could personally identify you. We may ask for contact information to follow-up, but you can decline to provide that information. Information that you provide in a survey may be shared with employees or third parties to aggregate the data.

9. Online Advertising

You may see us advertising on various websites, web pages, social media and other platforms. Please note that online advertising service do not always provide us with complete information about the platforms or website on which our advertising may appear. If you believe that our advertising is being displayed through websites or channels that promote inappropriate or offensive content, please contact us as directed below.

10. Links to External Websites

This Website Privacy Policy applies only to our Sites. Our websites contain links to other websites, within and outside of DF/BCC. Please be aware that this Website Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policy on any other websites before providing them with personal information.

Certain interactive patient applications may be linked to our Sites as a convenience for you. If you choose to utilize a specific patient application, please be sure to read the applicable terms and privacy policy for that application. For example, DF and BCC each maintain a patient gateway which offers patients secure electronic access to health information and messaging with participating practices.

11. Children

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 13 on our Sites. In the event that we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13 without parental consent, we will endeavor to delete that information as quickly as possible. If you believe that we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us as directed below.

12. International Data Transfers and Use

Our Sites are controlled and operated by us from the United States and are not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than those of the United States. Any information you provide through use of the Sites may be stored and processed, transferred between and accessed from the United States and other countries which may not guarantee the same level of protection of personal information as the one in which you reside. However, we will handle your personal information in accordance with this Website Privacy Policy regardless of where your personal information is stored or accessed.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns or comments about this Website Privacy Policy, our privacy practices, or if you would like us to update information or preferences you provided to us, please contact us as follows:

For Dana-Farber: